Transcript Coastal Pressures - New Jersey City University

Coastal Pressures
Coastal Development
• Coastal development is increasingly
important to the economic development of
many countries
• However coastal development often
interferes with natural processes resulting
in enhanced erosion
• Engineering solutions to coastal erosion
are often very costly and marginally
successful
One in every three people on
the planet now live within 100
kilometers of the sea
Two thirds of all the cities with
over 2.5 million inhabitants are
on the coast
In the US more than one-half
the nation's population lives
within 50 miles of the coastline,
but coastal areas account for
only 11 percent of the nation's
land area.
In recent years, 40 percent of
new commercial development
and 46 percent of new
residential development
happened near the coast.
Coastal Storms
• Tropical cyclones (hurricanes) and
Nor’easters can devastate coastal areas
• Damage from coastal storms costs billions
of dollars a year in damages to the coasts
of the US
• The frequency of large storms in coastal
areas makes them among the most risky
places for human habitation, in spite of this
the coastal counties in the USA are the
fastest growing
Coastal Erosion
North Carolina Coast
After Hurricane Impact
A nor'easter tore through
barrier-island housing
Westhampton Beach, New
York, 1992
Since 1982, federal
subsidies, including federal
flood insurance and grants
for infrastructure, have
been prohibited by law on
designated barrier islands
and beaches
Senate Environment Committee:
Strengthening coastal zone protection laws
• August 4, 2006
• Bill Wolfe, Director, NJ Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
• PEER is a national alliance of state and
federal agency resource professionals
working to ensure environmental ethics
and government accountability.
DEP’s 2006 federal Coastal Zone
Management Act Section 309
Assessment
• longstanding threats to the coast are well
known, yet much needed reforms are
being blocked by “the lobbying of special
interest groups”
DEP’s 2006 federal Coastal Zone
Management Act Section 309
Assessment
• "Many parts of New Jersey's densely populated coastal
area are highly susceptible to the effects of the
following coastal hazards: flooding, storm surge,
episodic erosion, chronic erosion, sea level rise, and
extra-tropical storms. Reconstruction of residential
development and the conversion of single family
dwellings into multi-unit dwellings continues in
hazardous areas… the value of property at risk is
increasing significantly. With anticipated accelerating
sea level rise and increasing storm frequency and
intensity, vulnerability to the risks of coastal hazards will
not abate; it will only become more costly. … “
Examples
• Current law provides a right to rebuild storm/flood
damaged structures and does not adequately limit new
development in high hazard areas and delineated flood
zones.
• The rebuild provisions perpetuate unacceptable risks by
allowing people and property to remain in harms way.
• Federal flood insurance program data reveal that NJ is
one of the nation's worst states in terms of multiple filings
of claims for the same property.
• These unnecessary risks not only adversely impact the
environment, they impact the insurance rates of all NJ
residents, especially those seeking flood insurance.
Coastal Area Facilities Review Act
(CAFRA).
• Section 10 of CAFRA mandates that DEP make
affirmative factual findings, prior to issuing any
permit. A series of standards have to be met.
Specifically, CAFRA provides:
• Conforming with all applicable air, water and
radiation emission and effluent standards and all
applicable water quality criteria and air quality
standards.
• Preventing air emissions and water effluents in
excess of the existing dilution, assimilative, and
recovery capacities of the air and water
environments at the site and within the
surrounding region.
CAFRA
• Would result in minimal feasible impairment of the
regenerative capacity of water aquifers or other ground
or surface water supplies.
• Would cause minimal feasible interference with the
natural functioning of plant, animal, fish, and human life
processes at the site and within the surrounding region.
• Is located or constructed so as to neither endanger
human life or property nor otherwise impair the public
health, safety, and welfare.
• Would result in minimal practicable degradation of
unique or irreplaceable land types, historical or
archeological areas, and existing public scenic attributes
at the site and within the surrounding region.
VIOLATIONS OF CAFRA
• Numerous surface and ground waters, and DEP regulated
pollutant discharges exceed the receiving waters’ assimilative
pollutant capacity, violate water quality standards, and/or are
classified by DEP as legally “water quality impaired”.
• For example, Barnegat Bay is showing signs of severe
ecological distress, and potential collapse, due to high pollutant
loadings from over development and loss of freshwater
replenishment.
• More than 30% of natural freshwater flows to the Bay are now
used by development and then discharged to the ocean by
massive regional sewage treatment plants up and down the
shore.
• Toxic algal blooms that have occurred in places like North
Carolina are plausible, and would have devastating impacts on
the tourism and recreational based shore economy.
• Ecologically rich estuarine waters are threatened by pollutant
loads and increasingly listed by DEP as "impaired" under the
Clean Water Act.
• In many localized towns and entire regions, the
shore lacks sustainable water supply.
• Few shore residents are aware of the fact that to
meet growing summer peak demand, private water
purveyors blend polluted groundwater with cleaner
water to attain drinking water standards.
• Salt water intrusion. The Legislature already
established a moratorium on new water allocation
permits in Cape May peninsula where saltwater
intrusion forced a costly $5 million desalination
plant.
• Lack of fresh water has placed shore towns under
emergency development moratoria and mandatory
water conservation
• Loss of habitat of various threatened or endangered
species and/or rare ecological communities mapped
by DEP’s “Landscape Project” and “Natural Heritage
Priority” databases.
Miami , FL
Developed
Barrier Island
A 2002 NRDC Study
• The Atlantic coastlines of New York and New
Jersey, much healthier than they were 30 years
ago, are nonetheless imperiled today by
widespread pollution and unchecked coastal
development.
• According to the NRDC (2002) residential and
commercial development that the authors say is
causing serious and irreparable harm to highly
valued sites such as Jamaica Bay, West
Hampton Dunes, Cheesequake State Park, and
the Meadowlands Wetlands.
A 2002 NRDC Study
• More than 35 million pounds of toxins,
including zinc, cyanide, chloroform,
toluene, and chromium were dumped into
the waters stretching along the New
Jersey coast and east along Long Island -including New York Harbor.
• The report also cites the "Dirty Dozen," a
list of the 12 biggest polluters in New York
and New Jersey between the years 19951999.
Among the Dirtiest
– Jamaica Water Pollution Control Plant, Queens, N.Y.
144 violations for dumping raw sewage solids, fecal
coliform, nitrogen, zinc, and lead into Jamaica Bay;
– Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Suffolk County,
N.Y. -- 130 violations for excessive effluent releases, high
fecal coliform levels, high chlorine and ph levels, and the
release of oil and grease;
– Suffolk County Sd# 3 - Southwest Plant, Babylon, N.Y.
-- 100 violations for high chlorine, fecal coliform, cyanide,
copper, and zinc releases;
– LaGuardia Airport Petroleum Bulk Stations, Queens,
N.Y. -- 98 violations for releases of benzene, toluene,
xylene, grease, oil and solids and;
– Standard Chlorine Chemical Co., Kearney Town, N.J. -84 violations for high e-coli levels and dyes.
Climate Change & Sea Level Rise
• Anticipated climate changes will greatly amplify
risks to coastal populations.
• By the end of the century, a 2 to 5-fold increase
in rates of global sea level rise could lead to
inundation of low-lying coastal regions, including
wetlands, more frequent flooding due to storm
surges, and worsening beach erosion (IPCC,
1996).
• Saltwater could penetrate further up rivers and
estuaries, and infiltrate coastal aquifers, thereby
contaminating urban water supplies.
Geologists are aware that the level of the ocean surface is not fixed, but instead
a dynamic feature of our planet. Sea-level during the Last Glacial Maximum
(LGM, 20,000 years ago) was 125 - 130 m lower than it is at the present time.
Using digital elevation data, geologists can develop maps showing the continental margins
during episodes of lowered sea-level. The margin of the Gulf of Mexico and other parts of the
western Atlantic as they would have appeared 20,000 years ago during the sea-level
lowstand. Note that large areas of the continental shelf are exposed well above sea-level
Geologists can also model sea-level rise. Sea-level is 15 m higher than at present. Note the
dramatic change in the outline of the Gulf of Mexico as much of south Florida is inundated.
Also note that the Bahamas are completely submerged, and a narrow strip of land is all that
remains of Cuba.
• Louisiana alone has been losing land at
rates between 24 and 40 square miles per
year during the last 40 years, accounting
for as much as 80% of the total US coastal
wetland loss.
NY-NJ Changes
• In the metropolitan New York, Connecticut, and
New Jersey region the coastal zone is squeezed
between the hazards of flooding, beach erosion,
and sea level rise and development pressures
• In this area, ongoing sea level rise and land
subsidence have historically contributed to
beach erosion, narrowing of barrier islands, and
storm-related damages.
Global Sea Level Trends
• Mean global sea level has been increasing by 0.04 to 0.1
in/yr (1-2.5 mm/yr), for the last 150 years, with 0.07 in/yr
(1.8 mm/yr) considered the "best estimate" (Warrick et
al.,1996; Gornitz, 1995).
• This is the most rapid rate within the last few thousand
years (Varekamp and Thomas, 1998; Gornitz,1995) and
is probably linked to the 20th century global warming of
nearly 1°F (0.5°C) (IPCC, 1996).
• Additional evidence of warming comes from the world's
oceans, where temperatures have risen an average of
0.1°F (0.06°C) between 1955 and 1995, down to a depth
of around 10,000 ft (3000 m; Levitus et al., 2000).
Global Sea Level Trends
• Most of the observed sea level rise can be
attributed to thermal expansion of the
upper ocean layers and melting of
mountain glaciers, with nearly zero
contributions from polar ice sheets at
present
• The future of the Antarctic ice sheet
introduces a major uncertainty into sea
level projections.
Global Sea Level Trends
• A large part of the West Antarctic ice sheet is potentially
unstable because it rests on land now below sea level or
forms floating ice shelves, which are locally "pinned" or
stabilized by submarine ridges.
• These prevent rapid discharge of ice from fast-moving
ice streams.
• Ocean warming could eventually thin and "unpin" these
shelves, which would accelerate the calving of icebergs
into the ocean.
• The melting of this additional ice over several centuries
could raise sea level by some 16.4-19.7 feet (5-6
meters).
Regional Sea Level Trends
• Sea level has been rising along the U.S. East
Coast since the end of the last glaciation.
• Although most deglaciation ended over 6000
years ago, sea level has continued to change
due to the time lag with which the earth's crust
has responded to the redistribution of mass on
its surface following the removal of the ice (i.e.,
glacial isostatic changes).
• These sea level changes are spatially nonuniform over time scales of thousands of years
to the present.
Regional Sea Level Trends
• At present, the rate of relative sea level rise in
the NY-NJ region varies between 0.09 in/yr (2.20
mm/yr; Port Jefferson, Long Island) and 0.15
in/yr (3.85 mm/yr; Sandy Hook, New Jersey
• In New York City, the rate is 0.11 in/yr (2.73
mm/yr,
• These values lie above the estimated global
mean SLR, because of the ongoing regional
subsidence, but vary slightly from place to place
due to various local factors.
The projections are for New York City's Battery. The curve labeled CCGG reflects data from the Canadian
Climate Centre for Modeling and Analysis, for greenhouse gases only; CCGS also refers to Canadian
Climate Centre data, but including sulfate aerosols as well. Similarly, the curve labeled HCGG reflects data
from the Hadley Centre, again for greenhouse gases only; HHGS also refers to Hadley data, but including
sulfate aerosols. Last, GISS GG data are from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), with
greenhouse gases only; GISS GS data, also from GISS, include sulfate aerosols
Flood risk zone, New York City metropolitan area.
Sea-level rise projections based on a model of projected CO2
increases of 2x and 4x present levels. These projections only
include thermal expansion of ocean waters and do not take into
consideration melting continental ice sheets.
View of the Statue of Liberty if the Antarctic and Greenland
ice sheets were to completely melt (from K. Miller, Rutgers
University).
Correlation between global temperature and sea-level rise
during the last century (from Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, 1990).
Estimated coastal land area susceptible to permanent
inundation applying sea level rise projections of 0.61 m and
1.22 m in New Jersey.
Historic shoreline positions at Cape May Point, New Jersey,
1879-1977.
Coastal Stressors Independent
of Climate
• The coastal zone in the NY-NJ region is
subjected to a number of natural and
human-induced pressures.
• Beaches are continually changing as sand
is shifted by waves, tides, and currents.
• In the region, beaches are eroding and
barrier islands narrowed or driven
landward, in part due to ongoing sea level
rise and land subsidence.
Coastal Stressors Independent
of Climate
• The relative vulnerability of different coastal
environments to sea level rise has been
quantified at regional to national scales using
information on coastal geomorphology, rates of
relative sea level rise, past shoreline movement,
topography, and other factors (Gornitz and
White, 1992; Gornitz et al., 1994).
• These physical variables are then combined into
a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI), which ranks
the relative vulnerability of the coast into one of
four risk categories (from high to low)
Rates of shoreline erosion (in meters/yr).
Coastal Stressors Independent
of Climate
• Most of the south shore of Long Island and the
New Jersey coast, which consist predominantly
of barrier islands, lie in the High to Very High risk
categories.
• Some of the highest population growth rates in
the United States occur in coastal counties. In
the Tri-State area, coastal populations have
grown by around 17% between 1960 and 1995,
with 7 coastal counties displaying growth rates
exceeding 100%
Coastal Stressors Independent
of Climate
• High-rise residential complexes are sprouting at water's
edge in Jersey City, Hoboken, Edgewater, New Jersey
and Battery Park City, lower Manhattan
• New houses are being built on the dunes of the
Hamptons, in eastern Long Island, where many
expensive homes were lost during severe nor'easters in
the winter of 1992-1993
• Beaches and other open coastal areas represent a prime
recreational resource, which offers the urban population
relief from the summer heat, swimming, fishing, boating,
and other leisure activities.
• As population continues to grow and additional land is
converted to higher density urban uses, less opportunity
remains to expand existing public parks and beaches.
Aerial view of Little Pikes inlet, Westhampton Beach, after the December 1992 nor’easter.